February 15, 2007 For decades they've given us a weird contrast: a rich company located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country. Predictably, their priorities were hardly a match. While the South Bronx suffered from decay, the Yankees lived by caviar standards. The Bronx craved money; the Yankees gave money away.
Well, the times they are a-changin', and while the Yankees are hardly pleading poverty today, they're suddenly looking at price tags before they open their wallet. The days of the impulse purchase and egotistical buys and trophy hunts are apparently over. This is no longer a team that an agent can love.
In a few years, who knows, the payroll might slip into a size 8. That's the direction the Yankees are headed as they begin to shift into a period of fiscal responsibility by cutting payroll, not to the level of Alex Rodriguez's playoff batting average, but in that general area.
The trick for general manager Brian Cashman is to do this without dropping in the standings or insulting those players who helped make the Yankees winners. He must locate the next great Yankees while making tough decisions on the Yankees who aren't so great anymore. He must be willing to pay for the next Mariano Rivera while resisting any urge to overpay the current Mariano Rivera. It all comes down to money, obviously, which no longer will be spent so freely and stupidly anymore in the Bronx.
This financial game of chance will be every bit as interesting as the game played on the field. It will dictate the Yankees' philosophy as they move further away from the spend-at-all-cost mentality of George Steinbrenner, whose grip on the franchise is loosening every year. It will send a message to current Yankees along with potential Yankees. Mostly, it will be an attempt to return to the good old days, circa 1996, when the Yankees won games with a leaner and younger lineup.
That Yankees team won a championship without paying out a pinstriped ransom for it. They were mainly built through smart trades and free-agent signings, with the right mix of role players who came up big when it counted and a sprinkling of young and cheap players fresh from the farm. It's the kind of team St. Louis used to win the World Series last season and the White Sox the year before that. Actually, with the exception of the 2004 Red Sox, every World Series champion that followed the 2000 Yankees managed to win without maxing out their credit cards.
That hasn't been lost on Cashman as he begins to form the Yankees with a more frugal touch. Basically, don't expect the Yankees to give $15 million to 40-year-old pitchers or 38-year-old outfielders. Randy Johnson and Gary Sheffield were lucky enough to cash in while the getting was good in the Bronx; others won't be so lucky, if Cashman sticks to his plan. The biggest sign that a new day has dawned in the Bronx came this winter, when the Yankees didn't sign a single high-profile Scott Boras client. Now that's showing restraint.
Over the next few years, they'll need to show more strength when decisions are due on the players who helped win four titles in five years. And if Cashman is smart, he'll put sentiment aside when talking contract with Rivera and Jorge Posada. To an extent, Cashman is doing this with Bernie Williams. The Yankees gave Williams roughly $90 million in his last deal. They owe him nothing except a great farewell day at Yankee Stadium. And if Rivera's demands are unreasonable come November, then the Yankees must make a tough decision with him, too. When a team puts one player above the franchise, then in most cases, the franchise is doomed.
Every current player who was on the roster in 2000, the year of the last Yankees' title, is living quite nicely today. Jeter is $190 million richer. Posada, Rivera and Williams all received contracts bigger than the Royals' payroll. Pettitte went to Houston for his money, and now has returned to the Yankees for more. Everyone made a ton of "respect," to borrow a phrase from Rivera.
After failing to win a championship for the sixth straight year, the Yankees are done with spending more money; they just want more to show for it.
Except, retard, the Yankees still have virtually an open-ended salary purse, and guys like Rivera and Posada still have position-player usefulness to the team. It's night and day differences between the Bernie situation and the Rivera/Posada ones.
Put one player above the franchise? Let's think. If Rivera doesn't pitch for the Yankees, they don't many of the playoff games they've won since '96. Rivera is the backbone of this franchise, they depend on him more than anyone else (even Jeter). So give him a check, have him fill in the amount, and then sign it. Pay the man. Now.
